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BRUSSELS FILM FESTIVAL 2014

I Am Yours: portrait of a woman without concessions

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- With I Am Yours, Iram Haq shows an acrimonious portrait of a young, modern woman, brought to life by the beautiful energy of main actress, Amrita Acharia

I Am Yours: portrait of a woman without concessions

Mina is a young, lively and charming woman who is a little volatile when it comes to love. Mina is also a mother to six-year-old Felix, who is a burden on her now that his father has left. Especially as Mina is herself a rebel who has been disinherited by her Pakistani parents who do not take tradition lightly and are especially worried about what the community thinks of them. Mina’s mother never got over her daughter’s divorce and is constantly talking about what is in the past. Mina thus finds herself looking for love – so often in the wrong place. When she meets Jesper, a Swedish director on his way through Oslo, she is ready to do anything to transform their moment of infatuation into love, even if it means acting to fool Jesper himself.

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With I Am Yours [+see also:
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film profile
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Iram Haq has created an unforgiving portrait of a young, lost woman. As she looks for love and tries to live her life as a woman, Mina struggles to reconcile her aspirations to be a good mother and daughter – something society expects from her, suffocating her more than protecting her. Mina is not particularly likeable. Her attitude is in so many ways reproachable –at least from a moral standpoint- yet the energy the actress playing her gives her (Amrita Acharia, seen in Game of Thrones) and the strength given to her by the director make her surprisingly attractive. Mina is no victim. She knowingly embarks into degrading situations, she behaves badly with her son and consistently proves herself unacceptably irresponsible. But despite all of this, her lucidity saves her from being judged too quickly. Instead of being horrified by her behaviour, we accompany her into her search for love, recognition and acceptance.

The naturalist treatment applied by Iram Haq avoids the artifices and concentrates the spectator’s attention on Mina and her hesitations, on the slow, gradual estrangement of little Félix, on the slightly desperate benevolence of the child’s father and Jesper’s vicious selfishness, who plays with Mina like a cat plays with a bundle of wool. Mina insists on seeing love where only desire exists. She is ready to compromise in order to get to her goal, even if this ends up being painful. But in the end, it is society’s unjust treatment, which emerges from this film – prudishly painting the daily life of a young, imperfect woman without any concessions.

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(Translated from French)

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